Johnny Russell, Shirley Temple’s ‘The Blue Bird’ Co-Star, Dies At 91

John R. Countryman, who was billed by the name Johnny Russell as a child actor (pictured above to the left of Shirley Temple), died on December 14 in Loudoun, Virginia after a short bout with pneumonia. He was 91.

Remembered for his role as Tyltyl, the younger brother of Shirley Temple’s Mytyl, in the 1940 fantasy film The Blue Bird (which was produced following the success of The Wizard of Oz), Russell also appeared in movies alongside Barbara Stanwyck, Tyrone Power and James Stewart before serving as a U.S. diplomat and ambassador in the Middle East and Africa.

Born in Brooklyn, New York on January 25, 1933, young Johnny Russell began modeling when he was 3, and had his first credited role in The Duke Comes Back in 1937. Other film appearances through the course of his eight year stint as child actor Johnny Russell included Always Goodbye (1938), Prison Break (1938), The Man Who Dared (1939), Sabotage (1939), Florian (1940), The Man I Married (1940), and Lady With Red Hair (1940).

His final acting role was in Don Juan Quilligan in 1945.

In 1955, and now known as John Countryman, he joined the United States Air Force, serving in the Strategic Air Command for three years. While waiting to enter the Foreign Service, Countryman worked as a city reporter for The News-Times in Danbury, Connecticut, and he joined the Foreign Service in February 1962.

Countryman reported to the diplomatic mission in Istanbul about a year later, and served from 1976 to 1978 as deputy director and acting director of Arabian Peninsula Affairs at the U.S. State Department, when he dealt with the Iran hostage crisis.

From 1981 to 1985, Countryman was U.S. ambassador under President Ronald Reagan before he retired from the Foreign Service in March 1987. He then worked in real estate and for the Mission for Peace and Cooperation in the Middle East.